The Art of Translation

By

Eben Shapiro

Nov 5, 2014 3:45 pm ET

If there were to be a Cabinet-level position for translators, or maybe an ambassadorship, David Bellos would be a strong contender for the post. Professor Bellos is one of the nation’s most active literary translators.

He has translated more than 20 books and is director of a program at Princeton University that awards a certificate in translation. He is also the author of seven of his own books including “Is That a Fish in Your Ear?” which The Economist cited as a 2011 Book of the Year, saying in a review, “In the guise of a book about translation this is a richly original cultural history.”

This week, Mr. Bellos’s latest translation, of Ismail Kadare’s “Twilight of the Eastern Gods” was published by Grove Press.

In an interview (via email and edited), Bellos, 69 years old, discussed the art of translation.